Lathing system



April 13, 1943- A. L. BRAXDALE LATHING SYSTEM Filed March 14, 1941 0000000000 000000000 oooooooooo o00000 O'OOOOOOOOOOo O O O O O O 7 INVENTOR. AC/E L. BRAXDALE W)? ATTORNEY.

Patented Apr. 13, 1943 UNITED STATES PATENT *OFFICE 3 Claims.

My invention relates generally to lathing, and more particularly to a system of lathing which insures permanent high quality work.

Heretofore it has been the practice to apply lath in continuous rows which have developed horizontal planes of cleavage in the plaster subsequently applied to the lath, resulting in hori zontal cracks which sometimes extend the entire length of the wall.

In spite of the fact that this weakness of conventional systems has been obvious for many years to those skilled in the art, lath are'still put on in the same old way, and extended horizontal cracks continue to make their appearance.

It is therefore the major object of my invention to provide a system of applying lath which completely eliminates the long continuous plaster cracks of conventional methods, and minimizes the possibility of any cracking at all.

Another object of my invention is to provide a lath which is simple to make and which may be easily and quickly adapted on the job to various conditions.

A still further object of my invention is to provide a system of lathing which is easily learned and which results in a stronger and more durable wall than has heretofore been possible with prior art methods and materials.

These and other objects of my invention will become apparent from the following description of a preferred form of my invention, and by reference to the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is an elevational view of a plaster wall made according to my invention with portions thereof broken away to illustrate the steps followed in constructing the same;

Fig. 2 is an elevation of a modified form of lath;

Fig. 3 is an elevation of another type of lath; and

Fig. 4 is a horizontal section taken at 4-4 in Fig. 1.

Referring now to the drawing, and particularly to Fig. 1 thereof, the numerals I indicate wall studs, or ceiling joists as the case may be, spaced the desired distance apart as called for in the plans, it being understood that wherever I use the term wall I mean to include both vertical and horizontal walls, i. e., ceilings, and that the terms horizontal and vertical when used to describe joints are used in a relative sense. The numerals I I indicate my standard size sheet lath which is preferably four feet long, sixteen inches high, and from to thick, although it will be understood that these dimensions may be varied as desired. These lath may be made of any suitable material and may be in plain sheet form as shown in Fig. 1, or may be of other suitable types, such as the keyhole type shown in Fig. 2, and the grip type shown in Fig. 3. The keyhole lath has a plurality of small holes formed throughout the surface of the lath, while the grip lath has a plurality of indentations in its face, which are preferably rectangular in shape and staggered in position.

The numeral I 2 indicates what I term my halfsize lath which is a standard lath I I ripped down the center to form two smaller lath of the same lengthv but one-half standard width. The numerals I3 and 23 designate respectively lath which are one-third and two-thirds the size of ,my standard lath, and which may easily be formed by cross-cutting a standard lath once, as indicated in Fig. 3.

By cutting a half-size lath I2 at the one-third mark, a one-sixth size lath I6 is obtained, and also a one-third or two-sixths size lath 26, although in my preferred pattern I do not use the 26 size but prefer to cut it into two I6 size pieces.

By properly correlating the spacing of the studs III and the length of my standard lath II, the intermediate sizes I2, I3, I6, 23 and 26 may all be formed on the job as needed to take care of the particular conditions encountered.

In applying the lath to the supports (studs or joists), I prefer to offset or stagger the joints in both directions as indicated in Fig. 1, although I have found that it is more important to stagger the horizontal joints than it is the vertical ones, since the vertical joints of course fall on a stud and do not develop planes of cleavage as readily as do the horizontal joints.

In my preferred method of applying the lath according to my invention, I first choose a starting point, as forexample the upper left-hand corner of the wall section shown in Fig. 1. A full size lath II is nailed in the corner position, and then lath 23, I3 and I6 respectively are nailed in position below lath II, all with their left ends flush on the first stud III. It will be noted that the standard lath I I is the correct length to span three stud spaces and that the lath 23 and I3 span two and one stud'spaces respectively, thus laying the foundation for staggering the vertical joints of the wall.

The next step in creating my preferred pattern is to apply a diagonal row of sixth-size lath I 6 in the open corners left by the lath I I, 23, and I3, to partially fill out said corners. to complete the foundation for the staggering Then of the horizontal joints I nail a half-size lath l2 immediately to the right of the top lath I6 so that I have spanned seven stud spaces along the top of the wall.

From now on until the other side of the wall is reached I need use only two sizes of lath, towit: full-size lath H and sixth-size lath Hi, to complete the wall. By following this method the wall is formed of alternate parallel diagonal rows of full-size lath and sixth-size lath, and their application can be made very rapidly.

It will be noted that no vertical joint is longer than one and one-half lath widths, and no horizontal joint is longer than one and one-third lath lengths, while at the same time all lath are securely nailed at each end to the supports or studs, and also to all intermediate studs if desired. It will also be seen that every horizontal joint between full size lath is offset with respect to adjacent joints between full size lath. As previously mentioned, this is a distinct advantage inminimizing horizontal cracks in the plaster. After the lathing has been completed, the wall can be plastered in conventional manner as desired, the plaster coat being indicated in the drawing by the numeral 20. It will be seen that when the plaster coat has been applied there will be only very short planes of weakness and that the chances of cracking the plaster have been reduced to an absolute minimum.

While the form of my invention herein described in detail is now considered to be the preferred form, it is to be understood that it is merely illustrative of the broad conception thereof as defined in the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. A lath wall for plastering, comprising a plurality of spaced parallel supports, a plurality of laths secured transversely to said supports having their adjoining horizontal edges spaced apart to receive plaster therebetween, said laths forming diagonal courses, the ends of each successive lath in a course being offset from adjoining laths in said course, and lath sections substantially equal in length to the offset portions of said laths secured to said supports and interposed between the ends of laths in contiguous courses to break the continuity of the horizontal spaces between the laths in said contiguous courses.

2. A lath wall for plastering, comprising a plurality of spaced parallel supports, a plurality of laths secured transversely to said supports having their adjoining horizontal edges spaced apart to receive plaster therebetween, said laths forming diagonal courses, the ends of each successive lath in a course being offset from adjoining laths in said course whereby the continuity of the vertical spaces between the laths are broken, and lath sections secured to said supports and interposed between the ends of laths in contiguous courses to break the continuity of the horizontal spaces between the laths in said contiguous courses.

3. A lath wall for plastering, comprising a plurality of spaced parallel supports, a plurality of laths secured transversely to said supports having their adjoining horizontal edges spaced apart to receive plaster therebetween, said laths forming diagonal courses, the ends of each suc-' cessive lath in a course being offset from adjoining laths in said course, and lath sections substantially equal in length to the offset portions of said laths secured to adjacent supports and interposed between the ends of laths in contiguous courses to break the continuity of the horizontal spaces between the laths in said contiguous courses.

ACIE L. BRAXDALE. 

